Bangladesh seeks membership of Association of South East Asian Nations

Bangladesh seeks membership of Association of South East Asian Nations

There is a cautious move afoot in Dacca, the capital of Bangladesh, to apply for membership of the Association of South East Asian Nations.

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November 19, 2013

ISSUE DATE: July 31, 1981

UPDATED: October 15, 2014 18:09 IST

Moving Towards ASEAN

There is a cautious move afoot in Dacca, the capital of Bangladesh, to apply for membership of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). Even before the assassination of President Ziaur Rahman last May, the Dacca authorities had contacted Sri Lanka, the latest contender for a berth in the pro-US economic bloc.

The contacts were "fruitful" and an official was despatched to Manila, the headquarters of ASEAN, for exploratory work. If Dacca becomes a member of ASEAN, which is fast militarising itself against the alleged threat from Vietnam and the Soviet Union, it will eventually have access to sophisticated arms supply from the US, just as some other ASEAN members have.A Rap On The Knuckles

The Andhra Pradesh Government is to implement only partly an order of the department of personnel affairs in the Union Home Ministry to lower the rank and reduce the salary of a senior IAS officer, B.N. Raman, now principal secretary of irrigation and power in the state.

The penal order follows an inquiry into charges that he accepted the hospitality of a non-governmental organisation when he was additional director-general of tourism in the early '70s.

Raman's status as principal secretary will remain but he loses his position on the seniority list and the chance of becoming chief secretary of the state when the present one, S.R. Ramamurthy, retires in 1983. The present principal secretary for finance and planning, B.P. Vithal, is expected to succeed Ramamurthy.Un-Gandhian Goings-on

Serious financial irregularities have been found in the running of some Gandhian institutions such as Gandhi Darshan near Rajghat of which the prime minister is the ex-officio chairman.

Following the exposure many heads have rolled: longtime stalwarts of the Gandhian establishment, including Radha-krishnan of the Gandhi Peace Foundation, have been replaced by Mrs Gandhi's confidants such as Naval Kishore Sharma, an MP from Rajasthan. More changes are expected as skeletons come tumbling out of the cupboards of other Gandhian institutions soon.Waiting For The Flood

Authoritiess are certain that parts of north Delhi will be flooded before the monsoon ends. They blame the Haryana Government for building far too many waterways and sluice-gates which will discharge flood waters into the Jamuna, protecting Haryana but thereby subjecting Delhi to inundation.

The flood this year is expected to be worse than the one in 1977 when the discharge of eight lakh cusecs of water submerged parts of north and south Delhi. Although massive preparations are underway to avert a recurrence of the 1977 tragedy the authorities are not sure they will succeed.

Ibrahim's Last Defence

As a cabinet colleague the controversial C. M. Ibrahim has given Karnataka Chief Minister Gundu Rao much to regret. Now it seems Rao would have even more to regret if he chucks out his minister for wakfs.

Ibrahim confided to some journalists recently in Delhi that he knows too much about the chief minister; if ditched he would not spare Rao. Rao continues to defend Ibrahim; on his last visit to Delhi, he fielded Mrs Gandhi's embarrassing questions by saying that nothing had been proven against Ibrahim and dropping him would encourage the Opposition to demand dismissal of other ministers not only in Karnataka but in other states as well.

Meanwhile, the state opposition parties are demanding that the Government produce a "missing" file said to contain damaging details about Rao during his days as a bank employee, when he was mentioned in a case of fraud.

Arun Nehru (left) and Vijay Dhar: at loggerheads?

Division In The Charmed Circle

The capital, where political gossip is the food of life, is currently buzzing with rumours of a division in what is popularly known as the Rajiv caucus.

According to the grapevine, there has been a power struggle at 1, Akbar Road between Arun Nehru and Vijay Dhar, two of Rajiv's closest satellites. The struggle, say the rumours, surfaced in the wake of the Amethi campaign where Nehru asserted his authority in no uncertain terms. Since then, according to the gossip, Nehru has gradually edged Dhar and Makhan Lal Fotedar out of the picture.

Most political observers have accepted the gossip at its face value for two very simple reasons. One is Nehru's domineering personality and his possessiveness as far as his cousin Rajiv is concerned. Dhar, on the other hand, is easy-going and affable with far more accessibility than Nehru. The second reason is that much of the gossip is based on the fact that for the past few days Dhar has been absent from Rajiv's morning durbar. Instead, Nehru has been lending his rather large presence to the tea-and-biscuits brain-storming sessions which range over issues of national importance.

However, investigations reveal that there is no truth in the rumours and Dhar is still very much a part of Rajiv's shadow Cabinet. What is interesting, though,,is that the rumours have obviously been planted with an ulterior motive by two possible sources. One is Nehru himself. He is an ambitious man who has tasted the fruits of power and obviously enjoys them. He would be quite happy to see no rivals on the horizon.

The other possible sources are the former Sanjay cronies who are being increasingly sidelined and are resentful of what they openly refer to as the Kashmiri Mafia-Nehru, Dhar, Fotedar and Ghulam Nabi Azad, president of the Youth Congress(I) who has recently gone into orbit around Rajiv.

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